We'd never run out of gas if Tri was around
Trip Start
Dec 22, 2007
1
9
26
Trip End
Jan 16, 2008
Las Palmas,
Spain
Sunday, December 30, 2007
We managed to get back to Morro Jable and fill up, but not before a little drama. The on-board computer would give a read-out of the remaining range of the car. I think at some point we were down to only a couple of kilometers when we took the wrong turn-off - it would have been funny if that one little mistake caused us to run out of gas. We thought of things like "What if we didn't stop at that place yesterday?" or "what if we found the hotel right away and didn't drive back and forth 3 times?". But we finally made it to the gas station. It's times like this that we wished Tri was around - he's renowned for being quite the "natural" gas plant!
Off to La Pared and its neat black sand and pebbly beach. Off to Playa Sotaviento - full of kite surfers. Just another beach! Vega de Rio Palmas - despite being in an arid area, palm trees are still able to grow here because they are in an old riverbed that still has moisture underground.
We stopped for lunch in Pajara at Restaurant La Fonda, on their patio at the foot of an old church. I wanted to have some Galician octopus, but they were out. I went for the grilled calamari instead; overall, the meal was pretty tasty here. After a couple of cortados, we headed back to Morro Jable to catch the ferry for Gran Canaria.
Not much happened on the ferry - I noticed a few attractive Spanish women on board. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria. Maybe all the Spanish hotties are hiding in the bigger cities! I did a little journal writing and noticed that I'm spending way too much money!
I'm used to eating a granola bar for breakfast and grabbing grocery store or fast food lunches, so that's how I budgeted for this trip. With the exception of a few splurge experiences, we haven't been going top-end for any of our meals, but it is starting to add up. It's not really a bad thing - stopping for sit-down meals makes me relax and chill out, something I never do when traveling alone.
Las Palmas - we arrived at the dumpy, industrial port and hopped into a taxi for Hostal Alcaravaneras. It was even dumpier than the port. The shower curtain in the common bathroom was pretty nasty, and the bulkhead was so low that there was no way I could climb in there without bending at an unnatural angle.
Minutes after checking in, B&H came knocking on my door. "Let's go for a walk!" I don't think they were overly impressed with the accommodations ...
a
they wanted out! I can't say that I was either and though I prefer not to, I have stayed in some pretty skuzzy places before. The receptionist guy wasn't all that helpful - I noticed a sign posted at the desk saying to watch out for pickpockets at one of the plazas. When I asked him about this he just kind of went "Uh .. well .. umm ...yeah ... well ... it's not so bad." Great ... We headed for the beachfront promenade - there were a few Spanish hotties out. Things are slowly improving ... it's a nice spot for a walk, with lots of cafes and restaurants, and people out strolling and jogging. There was a sand-sculpture exhibit done up with a Nativity theme. Pretty cool. Except that my knee is absolutely killing me!
Though I earlier thought our small meal aboard the ferry was sufficient for dinner, I realized that I was still hungry and had to stop for a kebab. I asked Ben if he wanted one and he said no. I told him that I knew he would want one as soon as he saw me eating it, but he maintained that he wasn't hungry. So as soon as we sat down and ordered, he turned to me and said "Yeah, I'm gonna want one when yours comes out, so I might as well order one now." It was only an average kebab, but Ben loved it. Hopefully we'll get a chance to sample some better ones before the trip is over. It's the perfect midnight snack!
